Rebecca Klinger, BS

The non-proliferative nature of adult cardiomyocytes precludes the possibility of endogenous repair of the heart muscle following a myocardial infarction. Additionally, there are currently no definitive therapies to improve or prevent deterioration of cardiac function following an infarction. Cellular cardiomyoplasty has met with limited success and has the potential to be arrhythmogenic. My efforts focus on the creation of an engineered 3-D cardiac "tissue" with native cellular orientation, electrical propagation, and mechanical contraction. Cardiac constructs will be cultured in a novel bioreactor that delivers mechanical impulses to neonatal rat cardiomyocytes in hydrogel scaffolds. These cardiac constructs can be used to study various pathological states in vitro and may have potential therapeutic applications in the future.

kling004@mc.duke.edu